Android Market Growing Pains

Google probably is learning as much from Android Market feedback as it apparently did in thinking it could sell unlocked Android devices direct to consumers from a website, without the normal retail store and call center support. As it turns out, end users are comfortable with retail store experiences and do expect a fairly robust level of customer support from call centers and retail personnel.

In terms of the Android Market, perhaps Google is learning that it has to communicate better with developers; that throwing up apps to see what happens is just not going to work when dealing with third party developers.

As it turns out, some developers have been complaining that app download counts tracked by the Market have been inaccurate. For any developer that sells apps, that's lost revenue. For developers providing free apps, the apparent loss of downloads can affect ranking, hence the quantity of future downloads, and therefore the size of an end-user base and any upside revenue that might accrue from having a large user base.

Other users have noted that sometimes apps are hard to find when using the Market's own search process. One developer could locate his app when conducting a direct query, but that the app was not visible in search results.

"What disturbs me deeply is that there's really no support system for the Android Market," says Bo Stone of the AndroidGuys. "There's no bug tracking, no support phone or even email or any way to file a problem ticket."

The Android Market does have a help forum, but not many end users or developers are likely to find that a reasonable solution. Developers are customers, and customers have certain expecations about levels of support.

It appears that Android Market does not yet operate as a retail software outlet normally must.

Some developers report that the total number of downloads for their respective applications had in some cases dropped by several thousand, for example. Google will get better at this, but the issues illustrate the growing pains any firm, no matter how accomplished, can experience when moving into a more traditional and direct retail environment.

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Android Guys

Bing,Grows Share of U.S. Searches by 50 Percent

A year after the official relaunch of its search product under the "Bing" brand, Microsoft's share of U.S. searches has grown by 50 percent, according to data from comScore.

The firm estimates Microsoft's sites accounted for eight percent of U.S. searches in May 2009, but that the company grew its share to 12.1 percent of searches in May 2010. That represents a year-over-year growth rate of over 50 percent.

Over the same period, searches on Google and Yahoo properties dropped by 1.3 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points, respectively, with Ask and AOL sites also losing searches. Data for Google sites does not include searches on its video site YouTube.

With Bing, Microsoft Grows Share of U.S. Searches by 50 Percent - ClickZ

Skype CEO Envisions Switching Devices During Calls - PCWorld

Skype eventually will give users the ability to seamlessly switch devices between calls at the push of a button, says Skype CEO Josh Silverman. That would allow a user to start a conference call on a desktop PC switch to a mobile phone and then to his in-car navigation system without dropping the call.

Currently, Skype users can transfer calls to contacts or phones using the software's call transfer feature, but that feature doesn't yet allow users to transfer calls between devices using the same account.

Skype CEO Envisions Switching Devices During Calls - PCWorld

Google Earth Updates For PC & Mobile

Google has announced Google Earth 5.2 for the PC and 3 for iOS with native iPad support. The PC version now includes the ability to open a browser within Google Earth.

You can click a button on the top nav and a full browser appears. Anything that you would then do in a browser can be done within Google Earth. It's convenient, and an example of the current trend to embed more functions natively within a single important application.

http://www.gearthblog.com/

Sprint May Throttle Heavy Roaming Users

Sprint Nextel Corp. says laptop customers using an excessive amount of mobile data while roaming could have their accounts temporarily suspended, though the carrier still doesn't plan to limit the wireless connection for its high-volume smartphone customers, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The key issue here is heavy roaming use, off the core Sprint network, and the primary reason appears to be that Sprint obviously incurs direct incremental costs when users are on partner networks.

Sprint is changing its policies for data service for laptops users with mobile broadband cards or USB modems will not apply to smartphones.

Sprint already has a cap of 5 gigabytes of data usage within the network, and 300 megabytes of roaming data. Starting July 11, excessive data roaming by mobile laptop users could lead to Sprint suspending the off-network service until the customer's next billing cycle, unless the customer opts into a plan with extra charges for off-network usage.

Sprint says it will notify broadband customers by text message or email when they hit 75 percent and 90 percent of the roaming data limit. The plans include 5 cents per megabyte on the Sprint network and 25 cents when roaming.

The threat of suspension doesn't apply to usage on Sprint's 3G network or the 4G network run by partner Clearwire Corp., says Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott. "Sprint does not, nor plan to limit speeds, nor change a customer's ability to use any particular application or Internet site."

Analysts are expecting an industry-wide shift to control the amount of data traffic consumed by users, so the Sprint move is not unexpected, though Clearwire continues to say it will not cap data usage.

The issue is whether the new move will complicate Sprint's "simplicity" and "simply everything" marketing message.

T Mobile USA already has in place policies to throttle users who exceed the 5 gigabyte monthly cap. AT&T has adopted new caps of 200 megabytes and 2 gigabytes.

Verizon Wireless has not yet made any specific announcements about changes.

RIM Readying Tablet PC, New BlackBerry OS

Research In Motion Ltd. is  testing a touch-screen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard, the Wall Street Journal reports. The phone runs on a new version of the BlackBerry operating system and works much like an iPhone, letting users swipe through screens and expand images with their fingers. It also has a universal search bar that lets users scour all the phone's data and some data online as well.

RIM is also is reported to be experimenting with a tablet device to serve as a larger-screen companion to its BlackBerry phone. That device, which is in an early stage of development, will connect to cellular networks when tethered to a BlackBerry phone.

The new offerings come as RIM faces increased competition from devices built by Apple and those that run on the Android operating system from Google Inc.

RIM still sells more smartphones globally than any company besides Nokia Corp., and last year grabbed 19 percent of the world market for smartphones, according to  Strategy Analytics. But RIM's share of the North American market is slipping.

RIM's share of the North American smartphone market by shipments dropped to 38 percent in the March 2010 quarter from 54 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Apple's share climbed from 18 percent to 23 percent over the same period.

The new slate device comes with four gigabytes of storage space and a five megapixel camera, the Wall Street Journal reports.

RIM is also readying a new Internet browser that renders Web pages much faster than the current browser, and allows users to access more than one Web page at a time, people familiar with the device said.

News Corporation Buys Skiff

News Corporation has acquired Skiff, Hearst Corporation’s e-reading platform, designed to deliver premium journalism to tablets, smartphones, e- readers and netbooks. The Skiff platform is designed to deliver visually appealing layouts for newspaper and magazine content.

News Corp. also announced an investment in Journalism Online, the venture dedicated to enabling newspapers, magazines and online-only publishers of quality content to collect revenue from their online readers.

News Corp. apparently believes it will benefit from owning the Skiff e-reader platform, though it doesn't appear to be enamored with the Skiff hardware. News Corp. is purchasing the Skiff software platform, but the device will remain with Hearst.

The purchase, along with an investment in news paywall provider Journalism Online, appears to be part of the larger News Corp. effort to put online content behind pay walls.

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